Computational explorations into the dynamics of rings of coupled oscillators

摘要

This paper deals with the response of homogeneous and inhomogeneous rings of coupled oscillators where each individual oscillator, when uncoupled from the others, is chaotic. It is shown that coupling can bring about a wide variety of global responses, and that there is a significant range of coupling values when the response of the ring is periodic despite the fact that each oscillator is chaotic. In fact numerous periodic solutions can be found depending on the initial conditions. The response of a coupled set of homogeneous and non-homogeneous rings is also investigated showing that the behavior of such coupled compartmental models can be quite counterintuitive and sensitive to the parameters that describe the extent and nature of coupling.